CS 19 (Winter 2006): Amit Chakrabarti: Administrative Details

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Computer Science 19 / Math 19 / Engineering 66
Discrete Mathematics in Computer Science

Amit Chakrabarti

Winter 2006

Administrative Details

Reading and Email Comments Before Each Class

Starting Wed Jan 18, students will be required to have read in advance the section of the textbook that deals with the material to be discussed in class. They are also required to submit, via email, their responses to two standard questions asking for comments on what they have just read. These emails are due by 11:00pm on the night before class. Thus, for example, if the class on Wed Aug 16 is going to be discussing Sec 4.1 of the textbook, then students are required to have read that section and submitted their email comments by 11:00pm on Tue Aug 15.

Submission Procedure: Send an email to the CS19 class account with subject something like "Comments on Section 1.1" and with two clearly marked parts. In part 1, cite a passage in the reading, including its page number. In part 2, explain in at most three sentences why you found the cited passage most difficult or most surprising or would like to have it more fully discussed in the next day's class.

That these email comments are required and will be graded. The 11:00pm deadline will be strictly enforced.

Important: Please do not send your comments email to the professor or the TAs! These emails must go to the CS19 class account only.

Group Work on Class Exercises

The textbook is peppered with exercises and working on these while reading the book is essential for learning the material. As you work on the assigned reading, when you get to an exercise, stop, look away from the textbook and try to solve the exercise by yourself. If you get stuck, refer to the textbook's solution of the exercise. These exercises from the textbook (occasionally augmented with some additional problems that will be pre-announced) will constitute the class exercises for the next day's class.

Class exercises will be graded as follows. Early in the term the students will be randomly grouped into teams of about 4 students each. Starting Wed Jan 18, class time will typically be divided into two halves. The first half will be a mini-lecture. During the second half, each team will explain their solutions to a grader. The solutions don't have to be written down with the neatness of a homework, but just roughly sketched out, so that the grader can be orally/visually convinced that the team understands how to solve the problems. The solutions must be explained closed-book.

It is expected that all the students on a team will share the burden of explanation. The graders may, at any time, single out a particular student and ask him/her for details of any solution.

Homework

There will be a homework given out each Thursday and it will be due at the beginning of next Wednesday's class. Homework is to be submitted before you come into class, into the box marked "CS 19 Homework In", located near the entrance to Sudikoff.

A few important notes on the homework assignments:

Start early: Some problems will be hard and are not typically solved in one sitting. Start early and let the ideas come to you over the course of a few days.
Be rigorous: CS 19 is a mathematics course, even though it is offered by the CS department. Mathematical rigor and precision will be expected in your solutions.
Be concise: Express your solution at the proper level of detail. Long, verbose answers are strongly discouraged. Give enough details to clearly present your solution, but not so many that the main ideas are obscured.
You can discuss with others: Some of the problems will be difficult, and it will often be helpful to discuss them with others. Feel free to form study groups. However, the idea is for everyone to understand the problems and experience working through the solutions, so you may not simply "give" a solution to another classmate. In particular, each student must write up his or her own homework solutions and must not read or copy the solutions of others. If you work with others on a problem, you must note with whom you discussed the problem at the beginning of your solution write-up.
Work on your own before talking to others: Although, as I said above, you can discuss the homework problems with others, you will learn the most by first trying out each problem on your own. Make as much progress as possible on your own before you meet with your study group.

Late Homework Policy

Any homework submitted late carries an immediate 20% penalty (unless you have a very good excuse and have discussed it with the professor in advance), and an additional 10% penalty per calendar day after that. No homework will be accepted after the next homework is due, or after the final. In this course, if you do not do homework on time, you will soon find yourself overwhelmed, so please be regular with your work.

If you are submitting a homework late, despite the above warnings, then please note that it is the student's responsibility to ensure that the homework gets to the grader. Slipping your homework into the submission box is not sufficient, because the box will only be checked on the normal due date and time.

Challenge Problems

Occasionally, the homeworks will contain one or two "challenge problems". They are to be thought of as "extra credit" work and will be tallied separately from regular score. If you end up on a borderline between two grades at the end of the course or are being considered for a citation, this extra credit will count in your favor. However, failure to solve challenge problems will never be counted against you because grades are assigned on the basis of regular scores.

You should work on these challenge problems if you find them interesting and you think that they might teach you something. It is unwise to skimp on regular homework problems in order to attack these challenge problems, though.

Working Together and the Honor Principle

Students are encouraged to work together to do their reading, class exercises, and homeworks. Groups who work well together in class should consider working together to do homework. What is important is a student's eventual understanding of homework problems, and not how that is achieved.

The honor principle applies to homework in the following way. What a student turns is as a homework solution is to be his or her own understanding of how to do the problem. In preparing the draft of the homework to be turned in, a student may not consult the notes or homework solutions of another student or any solutions to homework problems in past offerings of the course posted on the web. Students may consult any source (including those just forbidden for the final draft), except for another student's final draft, in learning how to do homework problems. Students must state what sources they have consulted, with whom they have collaborated, and from whom they have received help. However students are discouraged from using solutions to problems posted on the web for previous offerings of the course, and as just stated, must reference them if they use them.

The honor principle applies to quizzes and exams as follows. Students may not give or receive assistance of any kind on an exam from any person, including the professor.

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is requested to speak with the professor by Jan 20, 2006. All discussions will remain confidential, although the Academic Skills Center may be consulted to verify the documentation of the disability and advise on an appropriate response to the need.